From:	Tom Pendergrast <pendergr@***.EDU>
Subject:	Re: games : power levels...
Date:	Tue, 14 May 1996 11:33:30 -0700 (PDT)

> > <snip> I usually run high powered thinking games.
>
> No, no, no... High powered games encourage combat, not thinking, <snip>
> ... and you might as well have played the low-power game,

> It's all relative. If you play a game with no cyber, for example, you
> have hard fights with gangers and low level guards. If you play a game
> with some cyber, you have hard fights with corps. If you play a game with
> 10th level initiates and MBW4, then you need to take on hordes of cyber
> zombies & dragons to make it challenging... why not just go for the low
> level stuff?

((Just for S&Gs, we had a campaign a while back. Our party originally
consisted (at the start) of a (beginning) Mage, a char with some cyber
(security specialist), and a Vampire Hunter (Wire-2, SL, Eyes, etc...) .
Mid powered dudes. We had a couple of other players join and we got a
(beginning) PhyAd, and a Company (Wo)Man. We were, as best I can guess,
mid-powered chars... we could take on a lot, but there were so much that
would stomp us. As we continued playing, we got more skills, my char got
more/better cyber, the mage initiated a grade... that kind of thing. We
slowly got more powerful. By the end of the summer (we played 2-3 times
a week) we each had 150-200 Karma. My char was in the lead with 300. (I
never missed a game) The next summer, we continued. We got more
powerful, cybertechnology came out, and we upgraded some of out cyber
(some alpha, a little beta, no delta...) The mage initiated more (with
differednt ordeals), got more skills, got some bioware, that kind of a
thing... We got more poewrful as time went on. By the end of the second
summer, (again playing 2-3 times a week) our weakest member had 300
Karma, and my char (in the lead) had 502. We were very powerful. We
could take on things easily that we would have run from a year before.
We had great skills, and lots of them... our mage had initiated to grade
8, and out PhyAd was at 6. Over Thanksgiving, X-mas, ans spring
vacation, we ran more... The mage initated to 10, the PhyAd got to 8-9 (I
don't remember) My char raised his pistols all the way to 14... etc...
we were even more powerful. We were in a high-powered campaign. We
started with a low/mid campaign and over the course of two years,
gradually built up to a high powered. The campaign changed.

> The only true advantage high-level stuff has over low-level stuff is that
> you can turn thousands of corp & gang types into pulp whenever you
> want... and THAT is just shoot-em-ups.

((What used to make us cringe and run away, we can now stomp... but we
usually don't get into combat if we don't have to now...))


---Tom---